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THE
HORSBURGH PAGE |
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BACKGROUND
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This website contains source
information that relates to the Horsburgh surname and its modern variants, namely
Horsbrugh, Horsbrough, Horsborough, Hosburgh, Hosbrough, Hosberry, Osborough,
Osbrough, Osbaugh and possibly Asbaugh. There may be other variations such as
Horsbury, but no evidence has thus far been discovered of its modern use
other than through misspelling. Other common variations to be found in
telephone directories and on the Internet, such as Horsburg, Horseburg,
Horseburgh, Horsebrugh, Horsebrough, Horseborough and Horsbaugh, are also due
to misspelling. Most
of the modern forms of the Scottish surname of Horsburgh are natural
linguistic developments. The purely Scottish forms, Horsburgh and Horsbrugh,
are different spellings possessing the same pronunciation, namely “horsbra”.
The Horsbrough and Horsborough forms of the surname evolved in both England
and Ireland. The latter spelling represents the development of an intrusive
syllable and is pronounced either “horsburra” and “horsberra”, but “horsbra”
is also possible. One
of the Irish forms of the surname, Horsbrough, has undergone further linguistic
development to give Osborough in Ireland, Osbrough in Australia and Osbaugh
and possibly Asbaugh in America. The American developments would be
improbable if it were not for the existence of such intermediate spellings as
Osbough and Osbraugh. The other modern forms of the surname, namely Hosburgh,
Hosbrough and Hosberry, developed in America from the Scottish form Horsburgh
and therefore represent “hosbra” and “hosberry” pronunciations respectively. The
Horsburgh source material that is available on this website is by no means
the complete list of material that is available but it does represent the
greater bulk of what has been collected. All manner of spellings are
represented in the material, but, for convenience, all references to the
family collectively will be to the Horsburgh family. This makes good sense
not only because it is the commonest spelling but also because, along with
the Horsbrugh spelling, it is ancestral to all of the other spelling
variations that exist today. The information contained on
this site has been meticulously collected since the early 1980s from a myriad
of sources from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, Australia and the
Internet. The data has not yet been integrated into a database, so the only
means to find information relevant to any particular individual is to scan
each of the pages. A search engine could be incorporated into the site but
this would only provide a partial solution due to the fact that the source
spellings have generally been preserved in the transcriptions. Thus, in the
case of a person named William, entries will also be found under the
abbreviated forms “Wm”, “Will”, “Willm”, “Willem” and even “Wia”. In recognition of this problem,
and to make searching easier, the pages have been grouped into themes. For
example, birth, death and marriage information, irrespective of the
geographical source, has been grouped under a single theme and itemised
according to locality. It
is important to note that some records can be categorised under different themes,
so it would be a good idea to look at all categorisations. For example, a
newspaper article containing references to soldiers captured during the
Second World War would be categorised under newspaper reports, but other
material relating to soldiers will be found within the Military category. It should be mentioned that the material, with the exception of a
small number of miscellaneous references, has been systematically collected.
That is to say, the material consists of transcripts of primary and published
sources and indexes to primary and published sources. Information without
source citation that may have been received by way of letters, word of mouth
or by other forms of correspondence has not been included. This also applies
to material that may have been obtained off of the Internet; information
obtainable from systematic compilations has been included but unreliable
information, such as that contained in GEDCOM files, has been excluded.
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WORK IN PROGRESS
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The computerisation
of a number of record sources is currently in progress and this information
will be released progressively. Partial extracts from some of these sources
has been included on this website where the extent of computerisation could
be quantified on a completed date range or completed geographical (i.e.
county) basis. To avoid duplication, information has already been extracted
and is in the process of computerisation for the following sources: ·
1841
Census of Scotland (selected parishes in Midlothian only); ·
1851
Census of Scotland (counties of Fife, West Lothian, Midlothian, East Lothian,
Berwick, Roxburgh, Peebles, Selkirk and Dumfries, and the cities of Perth and
Dundee); ·
1881
Census of Scotland; ·
1881
Census of England; ·
1881
Census of Wales; ·
Indexes
to Scottish (Female) Births, Deaths and Marriages; ·
Register
of the Great Seal of Scotland; ·
Register
of the Privy Council of Scotland (partially complete); ·
Retours
and Services of Heirs. |
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DATABASES
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HORSBURGHS OF ANSTRUTHER EASTER AND DUNDEE |
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Documents relating
to the Horsburghs of Anstruther Easter, Dundee and Glasgow (Scotland) (Compiled
by Dr David Horsburgh) |
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HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHIES
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“Three Blasts of a Horn: the Horsburghs in Ireland” (at
first draft stage) The feuds of the Horsburghs in
their native Peeblesshire during the late 16th and early 17th centuries are
presented in even greater detail than what has been written previously. Closer
scrutiny has revealed that there were just the two feuds and not the many
that had been assumed by other commentators. It was during one of these feuds
that William Horsburgh killed James Douglas and was put to the horn. In the
wake of these events, William escaped to Ireland in 1608 and there
established himself in the vicinity of Carrickfergus. His descendants were
still living there, at Ballycarry, some 250 years later, although by then the
name had been transmuted into Horsborough. Other Horsburghs also went to
Ireland and in time the surname of the family of Gillygooly, near Omagh, in
County Tyrone was transmuted into Osborough and Osbrough. Descendants of this
branch of the Horsburghs live in Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia and
America. Robert Horsburgh of Poowong North and Nyora (1854-1928)
(in progress) Robert Horsburgh arrived in
Melbourne at the end of 1877 hoping to make his money and return to Scotland
a richer man. In the process he cast the first train wheel in Victoria, got
married and became a selector of 320 acres of primeval rain forest at Poowong
North in South Gippsland. He managed to weather the great depression of the
1890s but lost his farm to the bank after he was burnt out in the Great Fires
of 1898. Several thousand square miles of South Gippsland had been destroyed.
This brought him to Nyora and he was soon able to acquire some 600 acres of
uncleared land. He once again started the back-breaking work of bringing his
property to production. He only lived a few short years to enjoy the fruits
of his labour, dying in early 1928. James Horsburgh of “Glamorgan” (1891-1968) (in progress) The son of Robert Horsburgh and Margaret Watt, James
became a carpenter and initially worked around Nyora. In 1913 he went to Melbourne
and helped to build the scenic railway at the world famous Luna Park in St
Kilda. He enlisted at the start of the Great War and was able to watch the
Gallipoli landing at Anzac Cove in 1915, having been put in charge of the 300
horses on the “Novian”. Shot at Pozieres in France, he was repatriated to
Cardiff and there met and married Miriam Wright. He was sent back to the
front in early March 1918 and only a few weeks later it transpired that only
the 5 Australian Divisions stood between Germany and the complete rout of the
British Army, then in total, disorderly retreat. The Australians held firm
against the Germans and, although they numbered less than 10% of the British
forces, they accounted for 25% of the territory, prisoners and arms captured
in their leading six month charge to Germany. Churchill was a war too late
when he said that “Never before in the history of human conflict have so many
owed so much to so few.” After the war James took up a soldier settler block
at Caldermeade and then moved back to Nyora to work the farm when his father
died. During World War Two he was the Battalion Major of the 23rd
Battalion (VDC), the local Dad’s Army unit. After disposing of the property
to his son in the 1950s, Jim retired with his wife to the resort town of Rye
and there pursued his passion for fishing and his interest in the Returned
Services League (RSL).
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LINKS TO OTHER WEB PAGES
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SHARE YOUR HORSBURGH RESEARCH
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If you have any information on the Horsburghs that has been collected
systematically and has been or can be computerised, please consider making
the information available to a wider audience by sending the information to The Editor.
It should be explained that by “collected systematically” it is meant
that all Horsburgh information has been extracted, irrespective of spelling
and whether there had only been a single reference or many. On the other hand,
if the data is in some way incomplete then a note to this effect will alert
other researchers to the fact. The editor does reserve the right to edit the
information, or its format, to make the material more readable/presentable.
In all instances, the compiler of the information will be acknowledged
in any of the material that is subsequently placed on this website. It must
be emphasised that GEDCOM files can in no way be comprehended as being
“systematic collections” and, indeed, the lack of veracity in their content
generally minimise their usefulness in most genealogical contexts.
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Page
last updated on 8/08/2004 |
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